Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City

The current holders of the East African passports have good news to smile about. Plans are a foot envisaged to upgrade these passports, which were previously meant to enable ease border crossings, to be upgraded to the internally accepted travelling documents.

The plans are in advance stage to enable holders of these passports, which were mainly to enable them travel within the EAC member states of Kenya, Tanzania , Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi to be upgraded to the international standards of travelling documents.

This will in future, allow citizens to travel around the world. The residents, however, will have to wait for some necessary logistics such as phasing out non-digital passports and re-printing of the new one with electronic and computerized security marks etc.

The new East African Community passport will comply with the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] document 9303 “the national readable zone”.

Previous details of the applicant for the EAC passport now be legible through a computer from the signature and photographs will be acquired and digitally stored in a database.

The old model of the EA passport introduced nearly a decade ago by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda before the joining of the Rwanda and Burundi of the EAC two years ago, has the holder data typewritten or hand written on it. It was meant to ease border crossings within only the three sister countries.

But the document has not been so popular to with the nationals of these countries as the traditional passport issued by the Departments of Immigrations in the respective states.

It ended up being used mainly by ordinary people such as traders and students travelling across the region with the government officials and business people shunning it.

The EAC Secretary General Ambassador Juma V Mwapachu was quoted this week by the EASTAFRICAN as saying that the EA traditional passport had been accepted internally, but they were not used internationally When they were first issued, the EAC passports were valid only within the

They would eventually replace the national passports. However, the proposal is unlikely to materialize in the near future as a lot of groundwork has to be done including phasing out the national passports of the individual member states and the printing of the new passports with security marks.

Unlike the EA passports which the applicant has to pay only USED 10 to acquire and only valid for five years, national passports of the partner states are valid for ten years.

However, the regional are yet to gain popularity, especially among Tanzanians compared with Kenyans and Ugandans, according to a survey carried out by a local media house.

Meanwhile the issuance of the old EA passport has been suspended indefinitely to allow for the upgrading work to be complete..

TH newly upgraded passports will be issued only and strictly to the citizens of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.

Ends

leooderaomlo@yahoo.com